Posts By: Michael Gaul

The human risks are present for virtually any type of driving job. However, the specific job or role related to the purpose or cargo may be considered a “high risk” driving job, and trigger deeper concerns that demand more thorough background screening.

The problem with routine background checks… As long as nothing bad happens, you are “rewarded” for doing inadequate background checks. But there are several major problems with shallow or poorly designed background checks.

Publix joins a growing list of companies that have settled class action lawsuits that alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In this settlement, Publix admits to no violations of FCRA, but does agree to pay a total of $6.8 million. The issue in the case was the assertion that Publix failed to provide adequate… Read more »

Organizations are determined to hire the right people–those who have the right skills, fit with the organizational culture, and bring a willing attitude to the job. Locating, researching, and interviewing job candidates is time consuming and expensive. Like every other aspect of business, managers seek appropriate tradeoffs to balance risk and reward in hiring because… Read more »

It has to be tempting for companies who hire temporary workers for the holidays to skip or cut back on the background checks. After all, these workers are part of the extended workforce whose economic value is that they have lower on-going costs to the company. By definition, there is no long-term obligation, so why… Read more »

We spend a lot of time writing and talking about the best practices for using background screening to help select the most qualified applicants for your job openings, and to evaluate employees for a change in status. But sometimes it helps to hear what NOT to do. We have observed and heard about many things… Read more »

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is over 40 years old, but it is only recently that the number of class action lawsuits alleging violations of it have spiked. And unlike traditional legal actions the FTC took against credit bureaus and reporting agencies, these more recent lawsuits target check authorization services, banks, retailers, grocers, and… Read more »

One thing most adult Americans share is that they drive a lot. You could argue, along with a substantial majority of armchair sociologists, that our culture is built around the automobile. But when a person climbs behind the wheel, he takes his personal traits and characteristics with him: his driving is a reflection of who… Read more »

People do lie on resumes. Or, at least they stretch the truth a bit. But how much? It’s a shockingly big number: 53% of job applications contain falsifications according to the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM). This seems to indicate job applicants are trying very hard to stand out, and many of them embellish… Read more »

Even in this era of compliance, compliance, compliance, the most important job of an HR professional is to make a good hire. The right hire for the job leads to a good employee. In order to make the right choice, you need to know the truth about your applicants. Applicants, at the same time, have… Read more »